Disposable dust pan



Oct. 10, 1967 1.. F" CHARIE 3,345,670

DISPOSABLE DUST PAN Filed Sept. 22, 1965 Fins-L 2- Fv/ I l/ l 22 H INVENTOR.

L/LL/AN P. CHAR/E BY Mg? M Mm A Horneys United States Patent Office 3,345,670 Patented Oct. 10, 1967 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A one-piece paperboard panel foldable into a collapsible, disposable dust pan having a handle member integral with the rear wall thereof.

The device of the invention is herein referred to as a dust pan for convenience because the specific embodiment described resembles the ordinary metal dust pans found in households when the device is erected into functional position.

According to the invention the device is constructed of paperboard or the like or other combustible fibrous material formed into a panel which is folda-ble into a collapsible configuration and erecta'ble into a dust pan configuration. The device is intended to be sold and stored in collapsed condition as a household convenience item, for example. The device is particularly useful in households wherein young children and animals may be present who are wont to litter a dwelling.

The device may be constructed from a generally rectangular panel arranged with suitable creases or folds and slits to enable the formation of side and rear walls and a handle member foldable out of the rear wall. The front is open to admit litter onto the body or base of the pan. Preferably a strengthening strip of the same material is secured on the inner face of the rear wall over the portion out of which the handle member is formed. This strengthens the rear wall and covers the void left by the cut out strips which form a handle when folded outwardly from the rear wall. At the rear corner junctures of side and rear walls the adjacent walls are suitably secured so they may be folded for storage and opened for use. Preferably an adhesive material is employed throughout where adjacent folds or strips are to be secured together.

An object of the invention is to provide a new and useful article of manufacture.

Another object is to provide a new made from paperboard or the like.

Another object is to provide a new and useful article in the form of a collapsible disposable dust pan.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art and more fully understood by reference to the following description wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view showing the device in unfolded, dissernbled state;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the device in assembled, erected state;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the device in assembled erected state; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the device in assembled, collapsed state.

Referring to the drawings and first to FIG. 1, is a generally rectangular one-piece panel made of paperboard or the like material which is fairly rigid yet foldable and somewhat flexible. Cardboard on the order of about thickness has been found suitable. It will be understood that thicknesses in the drawings are exaggerated for clarity. The front corners of the panel 10 are preferably beveled as at 11 and 12; and at the rear corners the width of the panel is preferably slightly reduced as indicated at 13 and 14 with beveled portions at 15 and 16.

and useful product The various dotted lines in FIG. 1 indicate creases where the panel is to be folded. Crease 17 extends the full width of the panel 19 and is spaced from the rearmost edge 17a of the flat unfolded panel 10 whereby the crease 17 defines the rearmost portion of the flat central base or bottom 18 of the device. Creases 19 and 20 extend from the front edge 21 rearwardly to a juncture with crease 17 in spaced relation to edges 22 and 23, where-by trapezoidally shaped side panels 22a and 23a are defined by creases 17 and 19 and edge 22 on the one hand and creases 17 and 2t} and edge 23 on the other.

The panel 10 has slits 24 and 25 extending from the rear edge 17a forward to crease 1'7 and on a line corresponding to a rearward projection of creases 19 and 20 respectively. Thus the slits 24 and 25 and crease 17 define rear lateral dog ears or flaps 26 and 27 at the rear corners of the panel 10. Each flap 2'6 and 27 is creased as at 28 and 29, respectively. The crease 28 extends from the juncture of creases 17 and 19 rearwardly and outwardly to the rear edge of the flap 26 and preferably at an angle with respect to slit 24 of less than 45. Crease 29 on flap 27 is the mirror image of crease 28 and extends from the juncture of creases 17 and 20 rearwardly and outwardly to the rear edge of flap 27 and at an angle of less than 45 with respect to slit 25. Slits 24 and 25, crease 17 and rear edge 17a define the rear wall portion 30. This portion is provided with creases 31 and 32; crease 31 extending from the juncture of creases 17 and 19 rearwardly and inwardly to the edge 17a and at an angle of about 45 with respect to slit 24; and crease 32 similarly extending from the juncture of creases 17 and 2t rearwardly and inwardly to the edge 17a and at an angle of about 45 with respect to slit 25.

Cut out of the rear panel portion 30 there are two elongated generally rectangular tabs 33 and 34 which together form a handle member when folded as later described. The tab or half-handle member 33 is formed by a slit 35 defining three sides of a rectangle with its long axis parallel to the rear edge 17a. The uncut side of the rectangle is defined by the crease 36 and is the side nearest the center of the rear wall panel 30. The tab or half-handle member 34 is formed in like manner by slit 37 and crease 38 so that the creases 36 and 38 are adjacent each other but slightly laterally spaced, and are symmetrical about the center of the rear Wall portion 30'. As best seen in FIG. 4, preferably the free end extremities of the tabs 33 and 34 are cut off so that the tabs are shorter than the openings out of which they were cut, whereby the tabs can more readily be grasped or engaged for folding into the handle position.

To provide rigidity and strength to the portion 30 when the handle members 33 and 34 are folded into functional position, and to cover the openings left thereby, an inner rear wall portion 39 is provided. It is a generally rectangular strip which is secured to the wall 30, i.e., the top of wall 30 as viewed in FIG. 1. Its short dimension corresponds approximately to that of wall 30 and its long dimension is preferably slightly larger than the combined lengths of the tabs 33 and 34 and the space therebetween so that it fully covers the openings left thereby. Thus, the portion 39 is coextensive with at least that area of wall 36 out of which the handle member is formed.

The shading and the legend indicates adhesive material such as glue or the like which secures the various parts. The adhesive covers the rear wall 30 over a portion corresponding to the strip 39 and also the triangular portions or corners defined by the creases 31 and 32 for a purpose later described. It will be understood of course that the 3 adhesive material may as well be on the corresponding surface to which it is adherent or on both surfaces.

Referring to FIG. 1, the panel 15 may be folded and assembled .as follows. Strip 39 is secured as previously described. Corner tabs 26 and 27 may be folded upwardly and thence folded inwardly toward the center of the panel while the side panels 22a and 23a are folded upwardly. Rear panel 30 is then folded upwardly and the triangular adhesive surfaces thereof secured to the confronting surfaces of corner tabs 26 and 27. At this stage, if the halfhandle tabs 33 and 34 be outwardly and rearwardly folded, i.e., into the paper in FIG. 1, the device will be ready for use and correspond to the views in FIGS. 2 and 3. For shipping and storing, however, it-is preferred that the handle tabs remain fiat with the rear wall portion, and the rear wall folded downwardly and inwardly substantially flush against the bottom member 13. The rear wall will so fold along creases 31 and 32 drawing the side panels 22a and 23a also downwardly and inwardly and overlapping the corners of the rear panel 3!). At the same time the tabs 26 and 27 will fold along creases 28 and 29 and tuck under the side panels, whereby the device is in assembled, collapsed position as shown in FIG. 4. The side and rear walls can then easily be folded upright and the handle tabs folded outwardly, whence the device is ready for use as in FIGS. 2 and 3. While folding the article into and out of collapsed and erected positions, structural integrity of all parts and portions of the article is maintained. The side and rear walls thus together form an inwardly foldable, upstanding, continuous wall connected to and surrounding the major portion of the periphery of the base, and the side wall edges at 11 and 12 form spaced end portions of the wall defining an opening through which material may be admitted onto the base, and the handle portion is formed out of that portion of the Wall which is diametrically opposite the opening. Suitable dimensions for the device might be about 12 inches across the opening or front edge, about 10 inches from front to rear, a wall height of about 2-3 inches, and a handle length of about 4-6 inches. The precise dimensions, however, are not critical.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a new and useful collapsible dust pan which may be easily and inexpensively manufactured, stored and used. Its low cost, and the combustible fibrous material from which it is made, make the item readily disposable and of great convenience to housewives and industrial users.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications in the construction and arrangement of parts may be made within the scope and spirit of the invention.

1 claim:

1. A one-piece paperboard panel capable of being folded into a collapsible dust pan, comprising, a generally rectangular paperboard panel having a front edge, two side edges and a rear edge and formed with a transverse crease spaced from the rear edge and extending the full width of the panel, side creases each spaced from each side edge and extending from the forward edge rearwardly to a juncture with the transverse crease, a crease extending from each juncture rearwardly toward the rear edge and away from the nearest side edge, and a slit along the projected line of each side crease from the junctures to the rear edge, the rear portion of the panel lying between the transverse crease and the rear edge being slit and creased to form a pair of elongated tabs foldable out of the plane of the panel into handle forming relation.

2. A collapsible, disposable dust pan made of combustible fibrous material, comprising (a) a generally rectangular base portion having front,

rear and side edges,

(b) upright side and rear walls integral with and surrounding the base on the rear and side edges,

(0) a handle member integral with the rear wall, comprised of a portion of the rear wall material and foldable into and out of the plane of the rear Wall,

the side and rear walls being foldable into and out of the upright position and a position wherein the walls are folded downwardly and inwardly into a plane substantially parallel to the base portion, all the while maintaining the structural integrity of the dust pan.

3. The combination as defined in claim 2 including an inner rear wall portion secured to the inner face of the rear wall and coextensive with at least that area of the rear wall out of which the handle member is formed.

4. The combination as defined in claim 2 wherein the handle member comprises a pair of elongated strips each foldable along one short dimension thereof and adapted each to fold toward the other with their long dimensions extending rearwardly and with the plane of each strip substantially in the vertical.

5. The combination as defined in claim 2 wherein the side walls are beveled to slope upwardly and rearwardly from the front edge when in upright position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 360,643 4/1887 Austin 15257.2 1,106,282 8/1914 Coats 15--257.2 2,453,973 11/1948 Coats 15257.2

FOREIGN PATENTS 257,020 2/ 1913 Germany.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

R. L. BLEUTGE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A ONE-PIECE PAPERBOARD PANEL CAPABLE OF BEING FOLDED INTO A COLLAPSIBLE DUST PAN, COMPRISING, A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR PAPERBOKARD PANEL HAVING A FRONT EDGE, TWO SIDE EDGES AND A REAR EDGE AND FORMED WITH A TRANSVERSE CREASE SPACED FROM THE REAR EDGE AND EXTENDING THE FULL WIDTH OF THE PANEL, SIDE CREASES EACH SPACED FROM EACH SIDE EDGE AND EXTENDING FROM THE FORWARD EDGE REARWARDLY TO A JUNCTURE WITH THE TRANSVERSE CREASE, A CREASE EXTENDING FROM EACH JUNCTURE REARWARDLY TOWARD THE REAR EDGE AND AWAY FROM THE NEAREST SIDE EDGE, AND A SLIT ALONG THE PROJECTED LINE OF EACH SIDE CREASE FROM THE JUNCTURES 